Can motorcycle riding strengthen old bones?

[Grey Thumper]

Heck, any excuse to ride is a good excuse.

http://thekneeslider.com/archives/2010/ ... ur-health/

[sapaul]

To answer your question, only in men. I was told when I broke my leg that the bones knit together thicker than original.

I refuse to test this any more though

[gsJack]

LOL, from personal experience I think that is a crock! I started riding 26 years ago at age 52 and a couple years ago my hips hurt so badly due to progressing arthritis that I could hardly walk to the garage I keep my bike in across the street behind another building. In Jan 09 I started dieting and am now down to 210# from my previous 255#. Also this Jan we joined the Y and started working out 3 days a week and now walking to the bike and climbing on is no problem. I was thinking my GS500 was getting too tall for me and now it seems a bit short even though I'm about 3" shorter than the 6'2" I was most of my adult life. I do have osteoperosis (sp?) so if my doc says to quit riding I'll have to find a new doc. <G> I say keep your weight down and your muscles up and stop breaking bones if you want to keep on riding. My annual bike milage is now down from my previous 15-20k per year to about 10k miles a year now so I'm still talking about really riding and not just going around the block now and then. Still riding year around here in NE Ohio.

[society909]

To answer your question, only in men. I was told when I broke my leg that the bones knit together thicker than original.

I refuse to test this any more though

I hope this is true I should have strong toes and a strong left collar bone soon.
I got a broken jaw bone eight years ago it was repaired with two titanium plates. I guess it would be stronger than before but I can't tell. I just know I don't want to ever go through that again.

[sapaul]

The natural process of healing a fracture starts when the injured bone and surrounding tissues bleed, forming a fracture Hematoma. The blood coagulates to form a blood clot situated between the broken fragments. Within a few days blood vessels grow into the jelly-like matrix of the blood clot. The new blood vessels bring phagocytes to the area, which gradually remove the non-viable material. The blood vessels also bring fibroblasts in the walls of the vessels and these multiply and produce collagen fibres. In this way the blood clot is replaced by a matrix of collagen. Collagen's rubbery consistency allows bone fragments to move only a small amount unless severe or persistent force is applied.

At this stage, some of the fibroblasts begin to lay down bone matrix (calcium hydroxyapatite) in the form of insoluble crystals. This mineralization of the collagen matrix stiffens it and transforms it into bone. In fact, bone is a mineralized collagen matrix; if the mineral is dissolved out of bone, it becomes rubbery. Healing bone callus is on average sufficiently mineralized to show up on X-ray within 6 weeks in adults and less in children. This initial "woven" bone does not have the strong mechanical properties of mature bone. By a process of remodeling, the woven bone is replaced by mature "lamellar" bone. The whole process can take up to 18 months, but in adults the strength of the healing bone is usually 80% of normal by 3 months after the injury.

Several factors can help or hinder the bone healing process. For example, any form of nicotine hinders the process of bone healing, and adequate nutrition (including calcium intake) will help the bone healing process. Weight-bearing stress on bone, after the bone has healed sufficiently to bear the weight, also builds bone strength. The bone shards can also embed in the muscle causing great pain. Although there are theoretical concerns about NSAIDs slowing the rate of healing, there is not enough evidence to warrant withholding the use of this type analgesic in simple fractures.[12]

[storysunfolding]

sapaul- I'm going to call plagarism unless you claim sources. [12] isn't going to cut it.

[sapaul]

YEBO, I learned to cut and paste when I was at kiddy school, we used scissors, flour and water then though